5 Attack and Return of the Swarm
by Dr Vanya
Summary: While investigating a mysterious goings on at a luxury resort Doctor faces an old and dangerous enemy, one he encountered before, many lifetimes ago....
1. Chapter 1

Attack and Return of the Swarm

by Vanya

Part 1

It was called Sumpara, but some called it paradise. It was a world that had no people of its own, instead its temporary inhabitants flocked from all over the universe to enjoy the simple luxuries the planet had to offer. And so the once peaceful world had evolved into a resort, but also a place of calm. All but the most necessary technologies were not allowed, at least for the guests, other areas boasted state of the art facilities. What Sumpara offered was a break from the stress and rigours of the rest of the galaxy, a chance to get away from a life dominated by machines.

The natural flora of the planet was undoubtedly beautiful. Brightly coloured grass, in a staggering variety of greens, reds and purples stretched out as far as the eye could see with small trees and shrubs dotted around. In amongst them a girl called Haze gently jogged across the wide open space, her bare feet gently bouncing as the hit the the soft ground. She wore a pair of red gym shorts with a white t-shirt and was coming to the end of her circuit. In front of her were the cabins that functioned as the centre of the resort and waiting for her was a man a man in a suit and long brown coat, the Doctor.

He smiled as she grew closer, "Enjoying yourself?"

"Yes," she said breathlessly, but smiling back, "It's absolutely incredible here."

The Doctor handed her a bottle of water, she pulled the lid off and drank quickly, even the water tasted better on Sumpara. Once she had finished she reached up and pulled off her sweatband, letting her long purple hair fall free.

"It's so nice to be out in the open," she continued when she had her breath back, "Not hiding in caves or running round those claustrophobic spaceships. I hate being cramped up, even the TARDIS is feeling a bit constricting." As far as Haze was concerned an entire world was housed within the TARDIS, but it was a world with four walls and no sky.

"But when we met you were living in a camper van that really _was_ as small as it looked." the Doctor countered, unwilling to hear a word against his ship.

"Exactly, never more than three steps from the outside. It's not as if you can step out of that box of yours for a breath of fresh air any time you want. And nowhere else have I ever got so lost coming back from the bathroom."

The Doctor chuckled for a moment, but stopped when Haze shot him a stern glance, "Look, I said I was sorry, but I did warn you I was remodelling the interior."

"You couldn't have waited five minutes?"

"Of course not, if it needs to be done then it needs to be done. Besides, it looks so much better now."

"I have to admit it does, and I did get to see the bits that you usually keep off limits, who'd of thought you had a........" But her words were cut off by a high pitched scream.

A woman came running out of one of the huts screaming at the top of her lungs. "Help! Get security! Get a doctor!"

"I think that's my cue." said the Doctor before he dashed over to the hysterical woman, Haze following quickly behind him.

"What's wrong?" he asked quickly, taking hold of her shoulders.

"It's Mr Wri," looking into the Doctor's eyes was bringing her back to something resembling coherent thinking, "He's gone mad, ranting and attacking the staff."

"Stay with her," the Doctor instructed Haze, "I'm going to see what all this is about."

****************************************

Adolius Wri was one of the few to have been board by the resort on Sumpara, at least that was the impression the Doctor had got when they'd met the night before. He'd made his fortune as a prospector, scouring some the most dangerous planets, moons and asteroids for valuable mineral deposits. He was a member of the Chrovite race, characterised by their short stature dark, graphite like skin.

The Doctor burst into the kitchen to see Wri in the centre of the room, holding a chef by the throat, the remaining staff huddled in the corner, an enraged alien between them and the only exit. Wri immediately turned to see the intruder. "Doctor," he mumbled, casually throwing his victim aside as he started to lumber towards him.

"That's right Wri, I'm the Doctor, we met last night, do you remember?"

"Doctor." Wri kept shambling forward, he raised his hand which clutched a large vegetable knife and clumsily lunged at the Doctor, who easily dodged the blow.

"Wri, what's going on? This isn't you."

Wri turned at began to lurch at the Doctor again, "We have awoken!" he said, the words sounding like he was still grappling with the power of speech.

The Doctor stepped back as Wri slashed again, backing himself against one of the cooker units. His hands groped behind his back, grabbing onto a heavy cast iron skillet. Reasoning that this was one conflict that wasn't going to be solved with words he swung the pan as hard as he could at his attacker, the base connecting hard with the side of his head. Wri swayed for a moment, and so the Doctor swung again, hitting the other side. This time he went down like a sack of potatoes.

"Sorry about that," he muttered as he straightened his tie.

As the commotion died down Haze came running into the room, followed by several of the resorts security men. "Doctor," she asked quickly, "Are you OK?"

"Don't worry, nothing broken, which is more than can be said for our friend here. Any idea what happened?"

"No idea, as far as I can tell he just wondered in, grabbed the knives and started attacking people."

Still sensing danger the security team cuffed Wri's unconscious body and began to haul him out.

"Doctor, what's that?" Haze exclaimed, pointing to the base of Wri's neck. The Doctor pulled out his glasses and stepped closer to examine the spot, there was something there, just poking out from bellow his shirt. Haze gasped as he pulled back the collar, latched on to the unconscious Chrovite's spine was what appeared to be some kind of insect, partly damaged by the fall but it's body structure still in tact. It's dark green abdomen extended down as far as Wri's shoulder blades, where the head of the creature could be found. It's tail was bored in at the base of the neck and three pairs of legs were digging into the skin for purchase. A long thin pair of wings were protected by a hard casing.

The Doctor shook his head, "Not again."

7 regenerations earlier.....

"Come here and take a look at these Jo."

Jo Grant crossed the Doctor's laboratory the the bench where he was working. She was a pretty young woman with dark blonde hair and dressed colourfully. He pushed the microscope he was using towards her. Staring down the eye pieces all she could see were some orange and blue blobs floating round. "What am I looking at?" she asked, science had never been Jo's strong suit.

"Bacteria Jo, microscopic organisms. This sample was found in an undersea vent. Fascinating organisms really, capable of surviving all kinds of inhospitable conditions."

He sighed, he'd hoped to have piqued her interest with his description, but she was clearly unimpressed with what was before her. Truth be told so was he, in his time he had seen much more interesting life form through far superior equipment. But this was his life now, the Time Lords had caught up with him and exiled him to this primitive world. His UNIT laboratory gave him the best equipment that humans had to offer, nothing compared to the wonders contained in his TARDIS which sat in the corner, broken. All his efforts to get it working had proved futile. For the time being he was stuck on this planet, in this time and in this body. It wasn't a bad body he had decided, and like many things around him he was growing to like it. Since his forced regeneration he had taken on the appearance of a white haired man in his early fifties, although, as the Doctor himself was quick to point out, was rather spry for his age. With this regeneration had also come a penchant for frilly shirts, which today was a striking shade of burgundy. A matching velvet jacket was hung up on the wall.

"Doctor, miss Grant, get your things, you're going on a little trip."

The door had swung open and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart had stepped the room. He was a middle aged man in an immaculate uniform with perfectly shined shoes and sporting a large, neatly clipped moustache. He carried a slim file under his arm with placed on the workbench where the Doctor was working.

The Doctor smiled warmly, "Good morning Brigadier, marvellous to see you," he meant it, any distraction at this point would be a welcome one, "What have you got for us?"

"Camford a small town in Kent that's gone dead."

"Gone dead?" said Jo, surprised, "What do you mean?"

"Best we can tell everyone's vanished. People started report something was up, we sent some soldiers in to scout the area, when they found nothing we set up a quarantine. We need an expert to go in and have a look round and I would say you're more than qualified."

"Thank you Brigadier," the Doctor replied, getting to his feet, "We'll get down there right away."

"Not quite Doctor, there's something you need to check out first. There's a farm a few miles out of town, they reported a single meteor struck the property about a week before all this started. We need you to check out the rock and the crash sight first.

"Right you are Brigadier, right you are."

The Brigadier went to the door and signalled Captain Yates who had been waiting patiently in the corridor. He entered the room, quickly and politely acknowledging Jo and the Doctor. He was followed by a pair of low level unit technicians pushing a stainless steel trolley. Atop the trolley was the meteor recovered from the crash sight. It was vaguely spherical, around the size of a football with a rough brown exterior. The Doctor picked it up and ran his hands across the surface, then placed it against his ears as he tapped it, "It's hollow," he commented and after a moment's searching he located a small hole, "Whatever was inside came out here. You should have brought this to me sooner Brigadier, this meteor is highly unusual."

"What's so unusual about this piece of rock?" Lethbridge-Stewart asked.

"Well to start with it's not 'a piece rock'."

"Not a rock?" Jo echoed his words, "What is it then?"

"This meteor is formed from a highly dense protein matrix," he borough the meteor sharply down onto his desk, splitting it in two. The inside was white and smooth with a few crusty, orange deposits, "I believe this meteor is in fact some kind of egg Brigadier, and I dread to think what hatched from it."

****************************************

In record time UNIT had mobilised a force and was speeding towards the quarantined area. Local units had been scrambled but a convoy from UNIT HQ sped down there. Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart led the convoy in his personal vehicle, followed closely by the Doctor in his yellow vintage roadster, nicknamed Bessie for his previous assistant. Behind them were several more staff cars carrying essential personnel. They were greeted at the edge of the quarantine by a Colonel Jennings, an efficient officer with a moustache to rival the Brigadier's. Salutes were exchanged between the higher ranking personnel. As the convoy came to a stop the Doctor produced a wand like device which he waved through the air.

"No airborne contaminants," he announced, but for no ones benefit but his own, "We're safe for the moment."

Acknowledging the statement Jennings dropped the cordon allowing them to proceed. The checkpoint was miles from the town, their first port of call the farm where the meteor landed. Parking up in the driveway, next the the farmers own car, the Doctor stepped out, followed closely by Jo. Following the description they he had been given he strode into the main field, squatting down at the crater. He examined the hole closely.

"Nothing," he remarked after a moment, "Just a crater."

"Doctor!" Jo exclaimed, "The house!"

The Doctor leapt to his feet and spun to face the farmhouse. It seemed quiet, deserted.

"What is it Jo?"

"I saw someone inside, at the window."

Although sceptical the Doctor smiled and said, "Well lets go and say 'hello' then." and the two of them walked up to the house. The Doctor raised his hand and rapped on the door, which to his surprise slowly creaked open. The farmer was an elderly man with dark sunken eyes and pale,

sallow skin, the colour only offset by a sheen of sweat and dirt.

"Yes?" he rasped.

"Good day to you sir, I'm the Doctor," the Doctor said, smiling despite the smell issuing from the man, "My assistant Jo and I are here investigating strange goings on around here, the meteor on your farm and the disappearance of the local population. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?"

"No I would not. Now you'd best be on your way."

The door started to close but the Doctor reached out and stopped it, "Now look here, we're here to help," he pushed to door back open, "Is there anything you want to tell us?"

Instead of answering the farmer raised his hands and lurched forward for the Doctor's throat. Jo shrieked, but the Doctor reacted quickly, taking hold of his attacker's hands, twisting his body and throwing him to the floor, his head colliding with the table on the way down. Lying on the floor the body convulsed violently for a moment before becoming still.

Shocked, Jo put he hand up to her mouth, "Doctor, what happened to him?"

"Well he wasn't himself at any rate, something was controlling him and whatever it was killed him," he knelt down to examine the body, "Look here." he said, rolling him over and pointing to his neck. Like Adolius Wri the farmer had an insect latched onto his spine.

"What is it?" asked Jo.

"Some kind of parasitic insect, it appears to have taken control of his body, but I've never seen anything like this before," The Doctor reached down and gently teased the insect away from the farmer's body. He gently wrapped the body in a handkerchief and placed in carefully in his pocket.

"When I damaged it's body it seems to have secreted some kind of nerve toxin, killing the host."

"So that's what came down in the meteor?"

"Yes, but I'm sure it wasn't alone...."

His voice was cut off by a harsh buzzing. The Doctor and Jo looked around for the source of the noise, but it seemed to be coming from everywhere. Suddenly insects began to pour into the room, from the rest of the house, from under the floor and out of every crack and crevice. These were different, their bodies were squat in a shocking crimson and each was equipped with a very nasty pair of pincers. Thousands filled the room, scaling the walls and forming a living barrier over the doors and windows.

The Doctor could see that Jo was starting to panic, he needed to be the one to keep a level head. His mind raced, quickly trying to put together what he knew about them. They were all clearly part of one race, and presumably had some kind of hive conciousness. The mastery of the human showed intelligence, and a grasp of language, maybe there was a chance for communication.

"What are you?" he cried out to the room, "What do you want?"

The buzzing seemed to change into words, issuing from everywhere in the room, each insect having it's own voice which contributed to the sound, "We are the Grarnian Swarm," it said, "We want this planet and we want it's people."

7 Regenerations later.....

"Doctor, what was that?" Haze demanded as they left the hut.

"They're called the Grarnian Swarm," the Doctor replied grimly, "And if we don't stop them then they'll enslave or kill everyone here."

End of part 1


	2. Chapter 2

Attack and Return of the Swarm

by Vanya

Part 2

Third incarnation

The Doctor looked hurriedly round the room, the situation was bad and they needed to get out of there. This was a hostile force that couldn't be negotiated with and had every exit covered. Seeing only one way out he took a deep breath and then let an unearthly, high pitched screech. Jo covered her ears, horrified by the sound. Even more disturbed were the insects, who broke their formation and began to run for cover. The Doctor turned to face the door, making sure to clear all the hostile bugs from the exit then grabbing Jo's hand he pulled his startled assistant out the farmhouse. As soon as they were outside the quickly jumped into Bessie and sped of towards the UNIT checkpoint.

"What was that noise?" Jo asked breathlessly once they were in motion.

"The hunting call of the Dykallis bat," explained the Doctor, "A most fearsome creature. You see, deep down everything has a fear of predators ingrained in them, no matter how advanced they are, it's one of the most basic survival instincts. I simply manipulated that fear, but I doubt it will work a second time, we've lost the elements of surprise."

After a few minutes drive he slowed down and glanced over his shoulder and to his relief could see they were not being followed, by ground or by air. The Swarm seemed to find it advantageous to defend their perimeter rather than peruse the intruders. For now they were safe, and so he proceeded to drive back to the UNIT checkpoint.

* * *

Upon their arrival they were greeted by the Brigadier and Colonel Jennings. The military men were briefed about what went on at the farm and the two of them quickly disappeared to discuss strategy with their superiors, leaving the Doctor and Jo alone. Fearing the worst a medical tent had been established, and while the facilities were not ideal it provided the Doctor with somewhere to study his Grarnian insect. Hours passed, but eventually the Doctor was summoned to UNIT's mobile command centre, where the Brigadier outlines the plans.

"Air strike," he said simply, "HQ wants the situation contained as quickly as possible. We've been given to go ahead to fire-bomb the area, kill everything. The planes are fuelling up as we speak."

"Bravo Brigadier," the Doctor's response had a hint of sarcasm, "Nice to see you haven't lost your delicate touch. It won't work you know."

"And why is that Doctor?"

"Well for one these insect reside underground where they could easily hid from your bombs, rendering your strike ineffective. And you also seem to have forgotten that some of the Grarnian insects are capable of controlling human hosts. This means that at least some of the population is still alive somewhere and I believe they can be saved."

The Brigadier nodded, as infuriating as the Doctor could be it made sense. It was best to proceed on his terms, and that meant you start with the gathering on intelligence, "So tell us Doctor, what do you know about this Grarnian Swarm?"

"They appear to be operating on a highly advanced hive conciousness, able to act and communicate as a single entity. At present we have encountered only two varieties, one that appears to to be soldiers, and another who's purpose is to control larger hosts, which I have designated 'controllers'. The one I was able to recover was quite a fascinating specimen. Through a specialised nerve cluster it's tail it is able to gain complete control of a host's body. When damaged......."

* * *

Tenth incarnation

".... It secretes a highly concentrated nerve toxin killing the host." The Doctor was standing in the office of Armon Voyle, the resort director of Sumpara.

"Very informative Doctor, and what do you propose I do about this?"

"Evacuate, get everyone off this planet as soon as possible."

There was a silence as Voyle weighed up what the Doctor had told him. They did sound like a threat but he was sceptical, he needed more evidence if he were to shut down his entire business, "Tell me more Doctor, where did this Grarnian Swarm come from?"

"They have developed some kind of interstellar spawning. Last time I encountered them an egg struck the planet like a meteor, carrying a small colony of them. Have you had an meteor strikes recently?"

"No Doctor, we haven't."

"What, nothing? It could have been weeks ago, months even?"

"Nothing."

"Maybe one of your guests smuggled them in?"

"Impossible, everything that comes onto my world is thoroughly vetted."

The Doctor was getting frantic, "Look, it doesn't matter how they got here, you need to get everyone out of here now!"

"No."

"What do you mean 'no'?" Haze spoke up for the first time, angrily approaching Voyle's desk, "It doesn't matter how they got here! You heard the Doctor, the Grarnian Swarm is dangerous, you need to get everyone out of here now!"

"I take it that you to have seen this swarm in action before?"

"Well, no. But the Doctor has, you need to trust him, you need to..."

But Voyle wasn't listening, instead he was carrying out his own conversation with his earpiece, "Yes, thank you, send him a fruit basket but keep him under observation," he then turned his attention back to the Doctor and Haze, "So tell me again Doctor, what happens when one of these 'controllers' is damaged."

The Doctor took a deep breath, he had a bad feeling about where this conversation was going, "It secretes a powerful nerve toxin."

"I see, well that was my chief of security on the coms, not only is Mr Wri alive but he's also awake. I would say that destroys just about any credibility your story has wouldn't you say Doctor?"

"There must be a reason, maybe......"

"I think you've taken up enough of my time. Best case scenario you two are simply paranoid, worst case you're deliberately trying to undermine my businesses. Either way I want you out of here and off my planet."

"You're making a mistake," the Doctor protested, "You're all in great danger."

"Then you'll be safer elsewhere. Now leave before I call security."

* * *

"Well that could have gone better," Haze commented as they waked away from the executive huts, "What's the plan now?"

"We talk to Wri," relied the Doctor, "Even if he doesn't know what they are he should be able to give us some insight as to what's happening here."

* * *

Third incarnation

The Brigadier and Colonel Jennings listened intently to the Doctor's report on the situation, nodding in agreement. What he said made sense, the Grarnian Swarm were a dangerous enemy, but there were people that needed saving, this was a hostage situation, albeit an extremely strange one. After a moments deliberation Jennings spoke up.

"In that case Doctor I propose a chemical attack. We hit them with insecticide, I can get my hands on some pretty potent stuff."

"How do you propose you do that Colonel? You can't simply pump it in at the entrance."

"I will lead a team of men into the town and deliver a surgical strike to the heart of the colony. I can also get hold of a delivery system designed for dispersing chemical weapons, once we're inside that should be sufficient to hit the whole hive. I can have everything I need here within a couple of hours."

This was starting to sound promising, this Jennings seemed to have a better grasp of the situation than the usual bull-headedness of the military, "And where do you think best to deploy this weapon?"

"Well Doctor I'm not an entomologist, but shouldn't eliminating the queen cripple the colony?"

The Doctor smiled, "Yes, that would do it." His strategy was crude, but nevertheless it should be effective.

"Right then, I'll begin assembling the men, I'll have have a whole squad of UNIT's finest ready to go before you know it."

The Doctor shook his head, "Too many, we'll be in a confined space, they'll be tripping over each other and quite possibly shooting themselves as well. At most you want six men down there."

"Right you are Doctor, six it is, but I shall have more standing by to secure the hostages. I will personally lead the expedition to liberate the town and I hope you will accompany us, it would be helpful to have an expert along. As long as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart doesn't mind me putting his best man at risk."

"Not at all," the Brigadier replied, "I've seen the Doctor pull off some impressive feats in my time, I have no doubt he'll be able to handle himself in there."

"In that case Colonel I'd be delighted."

* * *

"How are you feeling Jo?" the Doctor asked, gently placing his hand on his assistant's shoulder.

While Jennings's team hurried to assemble the Doctor found a few moments to himself. He had his own preparations to do, but he needed to check on Jo first.

"I'm OK," she replied, although was still a little shaky, "Those things were horrible. I don't fancy going back in there."

"Don't worry, you don't have to, and this time I'll have Jennings and a squad of soldiers with me, everything will be fine."

Jo smiled, already feeling better.

"Now come on, I have some preparations to do and I could use a hand."

* * *

Tenth incarnation

The hospital on Sumpara was the only part of the resort that looked like it didn't belong. While everywhere else utilised local building materials, allowing them to blend with the planet's aesthetic, the hospital looked like it had been shipped in from another world, which it had. It did attempt to blend in, it's numerous mirrored windows reflected the planet's beautiful landscapes. These mirrored walls allowed the patients to see out, but masked the sick and injured from the people outside, after all this was a place to relax, best not to be reminded of the negative side of life.

In the basement the TARDIS door creaked open and the Doctor strode out, Haze only a few steps behind him. Despite their protests they had been ordered back to the hanger, where they put on a good show of leaving for the resort security, but in reality had only travelled a mile or so. Entering the lift the Doctor quickly consulted the plan of the hospital before announcing "Psyche ward." and pressing the button for the corresponding floor.

"Surely they don't think he's crazy?" Haze asked, "I mean, they must have seen that Grarnian insect too."

"It doesn't matter what they think, he's shown violent tendencies and until they can get an expert to take a look at him that's the only secure part of the hospital, they're not really used to dealing with prisoners round here."

For a moment they ascended in silence, so Haze decided to put forward a question that had been bothering her, "Doctor, I've been wondering, how did Wri survive the nerve toxin?"

"I couldn't tell you without running a whole battery of tests, but right now my best guess would be his Chorvite physiology, specifically the extremely high body temperature. It must have been sufficient to burn off the toxin. Good enough?"

Haze nodded, "For now. "

The doors slid open and the customary bell announced they had arrived. Two guards had been posted outside Wri's room, but they seemed unsure was to whether they were dealing with a patient or prisoner.

"Hello there, I'm Dr John Smith, I'm an expert in the field of parasitic infection, and this is my assistant Miss McCall," said the Doctor, introducing himself to the guards. Haze had already expressed her dislike of being introduced to everyone as his assistant, now she was convinced he was doing it to annoy her. "We just happened to be on holiday here and we were told about the incident earlier. Since there was supposedly some kind of weird insect involved I thought I could take a look at him for you. I have Voyle's permission, in fact he insisted."

The Doctor waved the psychic paper in their faces, it corroborated his story. The door was open and and they were admitted to the secure room.

"Doctor...." Wri began nervously.

"Relax Wri," the Doctor replied in a hushed voice, "I haven't come back for round two. We need to get you out of here."

Then, after a brief pause, the Doctor cried out "Oh dear God!"

As the guard attempted to get the door open the Doctor continued, "No, stay back, they're hatching! Run, run now while you can!"

"How long do you think we've got?" Haze asked as the two guards tore town the corridor and into the stairwell.

"Long enough."

* * *

Not wasting any time the Doctor Haze and Wri were soon back aboard the TARDIS. Once they were secure Wri began his account of what had happened to him that day.

"I'd gone out early to explore one of the grottos with the hot springs, the one they use as a natural jacuzzi," he explained, "You see I was never interested in the resort, according to records this planet has never been mined, or even surveyed. Voyle won't let any of the ordinary prospects and their equipment in, but I don't need tools, I can smell a valuable deposit. I thought if I could find something on my own then I could negotiate exclusive rights with Voyle. Anyway, I was in the cave, slipping through the cracks and I come across this gelatinous orange wall. I assumed it's some kind of insect colony, but I pushed on anyway. I thought it was just going to be a basic hive, but the cavern beyond the wall was incredible, it webs and the orange wall interacting with the tunnel system. Must have taken years to build."

"Oh of course!" the Doctor was beginning to put the pieces together, "There was no evidence of the swarm arriving because they were already here, this could even be their home world. Which is why there was never any indigenous life on the surface. Some time ago the swarm became the dominant species, wiped out all others, spread their seed across the galaxy and then hibernated. And it seems you've just woken them Wri."

Wri hung his head in shame, "I'm sorry Doctor."

"Never mind about that now, what happened then?"

"Everything seemed dead, so I started exploring the hive, but then this buzzing sound started and before I even saw it I felt a sting on the back of my neck. I tried to swat it, by my hands stop responding. I begin walking, badly, further into the hive, and I know I'm for it, I'm going to become this thing's dinner. They don't just control, there was a little flow of thought between me and it, I could hear what the hive were thinking and what they had planned for me. But then I thought of you Doctor, just for a second and it stopped. And then I find myself turning round and going out again." Wri shuddered as he recalled that detail, "They want you Doctor, whatever they are they want you."

* * *

Third incarnation

"Next." Colonel Jennings barked, signalling the final soldier to enter the medical tent, once inside he was met by the Doctor and Jo. This was the twenty-fifth, and thankfully final time they had carried out this routine, but for the young soldier it was the first, and still nerve wracking. Trembling he held out his arm for the Doctor, who just shook his head and said, "Not for this one."

"But I thought I was reporting for immunisation?" replied the nervous soldier.

"Oh, you are," said the Doctor, a large syringe in his hand walking round his patient, "Tilt your head forward please."

"It'll be over quickly." Jo added helpfully.

The soldier followed the Doctor's instructions, then felt the cold anaesthetic swab on the back of his neck, and winced as the needle was pushed into his spine.

"OK then, off you go." the Doctor said, withdrawing the syringe. The soldier muttered thanks before leavening the tent, nursing the sharp pain in his neck.

"That's the last of them," Jo commented, ticking his name of the sheet, "So what happens now?"

"Now, we go into town."

* * *

Evening was drawing in as Jennings assembled the men for the final briefing. Throughout the day military trucks had been coming to and from the UNIT camp delivering the vital supplies that Jennings had requested. He drew his men's attention to a round cylindrical piece of equipment with metal grills running down the side.

"This is the weapon we will be deploying, the boys in the lab call it 'the ventilator'. It's a state of the art delivery system for a chemical agent and has been loaded, it's the most potent insecticide known to man. Four men will accompany the Doctor and I into the hive, two of you will be in charge of this weapon, getting it into the hive is to be your top priority. The other two more of will be armed with pressurised sprays loaded with liquid insecticide, you will be used to clear a path for us." He turned his attention, and the attention of his men to the next weapon, "All of you will be issued with tranquilliser guns, the towns people are under enemy control and need to be saved. Once down the Doctor will administer his anti-toxin hopefully this will allow us to save them. Doctor, you're briefing if you please."

"Alright," said the Doctor, taking centre stage, "The plan is relatively straightforward. We go into the hive and locate the central chamber where the queen and place the ventilator. While in there we search for and neutralise any towns people under Grarnian influence, if there are any great numbers then we call in reinforcements to help move them. Twenty of you will be standing by for that purpose, but while we're down there I want to keep our numbers to a minimum. I've studied the plans of the town and I've come up with a most likely colonisation scenario. We concentrate out efforts here." the Doctor pointed to the map.

"St Stephen's?" Jennings said, "What makes you think they'd go for the church?"

"The catacombs beneath provide the best space for establishing in a hive. If they're trying to establish a foothold then it makes sense to use and existing tunnel network and the church is the perfect entry point, for them as well as us. Now if there's no more questions we need to be ready to move."

* * *

Tenth incarnation

Haze winced as the Doctor withdrew the needle from her neck, he's given her the same inoculation he'd given to the UNIT soldiers years before. She was never a great fan of needles at the best of times, spinal injections even less so, but she appreciated the need, and certainly felt better knowing that if nothing else she wouldn't succumb to the effects of the nerve toxin. Of course there were still plenty of other ways to die.

Opening the main doors the Doctor asked "Is this the cave where you found the hive Wri?"

"It is."

"Great," said Haze, "Let's grab some caving gear and the bug spray."

"No," replied the Doctor, "You're not coming with me, either of you. I need to do this alone this time."

"But I know those caves Doctor," Wri protested, "My place is down there with you."

"No, the Swarm will kill you as soon as you set foot in there again, but I have a feeling they want me alive, for the moment at least. And Haze, I need you up here, it won't be long before these things come up to the surface and I need you to go back to the resort and warn the people, try and get as many of them to leave as you can. Spread the truth." he added with a wink.

"Well OK then, in the interests of saving the people," said Haze, secretly thankful for not having to having to go underground, "In that case good luck Doctor," as she approached the doors she turned back and added, "And try not to get eaten." With that she jogged off towards the resort.

The Doctor smiled, and muttered, "I'll try."

* * *

Third incarnation

The Doctor pulled on his gas mask as he stepped into the church, followed closely by Jennings and his soldiers. The inside was a wreck, a huge section of the floor had been collapsed and a crude ramp, formed from stones, webbing and a strange orange secretion, led under the church.

"Just as I thought," the Doctor said, "They must have used this to take the population underground."

He hopped down and followed the path which took them deeper into the crypts. Soon after that they were confronted by a wall that separated then from the hive, one constructed by the colony.

"Fascinating." the Doctor muttered as he ran his hand across it. The wall had been constructed using a framework of webbing and strengthened with protein secretions, a dull orange in colour. The structure was riddled with small octagonal holes, providing access for the instincts.

"Knife." He commanded, and the hilt was placed in his hand by one of the soldiers. He plunged the blade into the wall, and using all of his strength brought the knife down to cut an opening for them.

Once through the outer wall and into the catacombs the whole area took on a much more alien appearance. The walls were coated in the in the same orange protein that blocked the entrance, but it was still a work in progress. Large, purple spider-like insects, skittered along the ceiling spinning webs and fortifying them with their regurgitated protein secretions. _Constructors, _the Doctor thought idly, for all the danger and seriousness of the mission this was his first encounter with an new species and he was determined to catalogue all of them. Another variety ran along the floor, shifting debris, the Doctor named these workers.

After a moment he signalled the soldiers to stop, "Listen."

The now familiar harsh buzzing noise issued from the darkness as the Grarnian soldiers swarmed forwards. In response two of the UNIT soldiers stepped up, armed and ready. Jets of liquid leapt forward dousing the insects and the buzzing turned to a pained, fearful shriek. Satisfied the Doctor and the military team pushed forward.

As they progressed deeper into the catacombs the Doctor became uneasy, "I was expecting more resistance."

"Maybe they're not as formidable as you thought." replied Jennings.

"If there's one thing I've learned Colonel it's to never underestimate your enemy. And I would have thought we would have encounter some of towns people by now."

Jennings was about to reply when once again a buzzing noise filled the air, but this was different softer and more high pitched. The Doctor strained his eyes against the darkness, trying to find it's source. Whatever was making the sound moved quickly, flitting round at an alarming rate. His hand flashed out, successfully swatting one against the stone wall. Feeling the tiny feet on his neck his other hand slapped his own skin, hard, and withdrew with the remains of the Grarnian controller on his glove. The soldiers too were swatting frantically, and then everything went quiet.

"Doctor...." Jennings began nervously. Suddenly his body twitched momentarily, he looked up with a new sense of malice in his eyes. "Doctor." he said again, and drew his revolver.

* * *

Tenth incarnation

The cave was exactly was Wri described, except that an opening had been formed. As the Doctor had suspected the Swarm was expecting him, row upon row of Grarnian soldiers waited in the mouth of the passage.

He looked down and and raised his hands, showing they were empty, then went through a show of opening his coat and turning out his pockets. Finally he said, "I'm unarmed, take me to your queen."

The sea of insects parted, forming a path deeper into the hive.

End of Part 2


	3. Chapter 3

Attack and Return of the Swarm

by Vanya

Part 3

Third incarnation

In a combat situation, hesitation, even for a moment can get you killed, and yet an entire squad of soldiers hesitated. UNIT was an organisation used to dealing with alien threats and each man was trained, experienced and fully briefed on the situation. But nothing can prepare a man for the seeing his commanding officer, someone to whom they have absolute loyalty, fall under enemy control. Given time, mere seconds more each could have adequately dealt with the situation, but in that moment of hesitation the whole situation went to hell.

Jennings, under the influence of the Grarnian controller, drew his revolver. As the Doctor turned to face him Jennings pivoted on the spot and squeezed the trigger. Sparks flew as the bullet struck the ventilator, the weapon on which the whole mission hinged. Moments later the Doctor disarmed Jennings with a precision blow and he was restrained by two of the soldiers. The Doctor walked round behind Jennings as he struggled, and with his thumb an forefinger squeezed it's body and plucked it from the colonel's neck.

"Thank you Doctor," said Jennings, regaining his composure, "And sorry."

"Don't worry about it Colonel."

"How's the ventilator?"

The Doctor squatted down to investigate the weapon, "None of the tanks have ruptured, but the bullet shattered the release mechanism. You can still set it off, but it will have to be done manually."

Jennings nodded thoughtfully, "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Onwards men."

* * *

Tenth incarnation

The Doctor followed the clear path while the Grarnian soldiers sat motionless on either side, the silence in the the cavern broken only by the sound of his own footsteps. He quickly moved through the outer cave and paused for a moment on the border of the hive, separated from the rest of the cave by a gelatinous orange wall, this was where the line of soldiers ended. The gap Wri had made in the outer wall had been, lengthened, widened and shaped into a proper doorway in preparation for him. The last of the debris was being hauled away by Grarnian insects, ones the Doctor had designated 'workers', with dark brown, beetle like bodies, strong front limbs and elongated back legs. As he stepped through the doorway he heard a low buzzing behind him, the sea of soldiers was closing up and returning to hive. As he walked deeper one thought went through the Doctor's mind, last time he had been inside a Grarnian hive he had been accompanied by a small squad of soldiers and a state of the art weapon, and now he was truly alone, and that was the way he preferred things.

* * *

The real art of spreading the truth is to have people believe you, a trick Haze had struggled with for many years, but for once the situation was in her favour. This was different to trying to convey the existence of extraterrestrial life to an unready world, this was simply trying to convince a large group of people that they were in danger. In situations like that fears, accusations and the threats of attack spread quickly, it would then take a lot of work and effort to prove that things were safe.

Since a meeting or any other kind or organised talk was out of the question Haze had simply walked into the resort, picked a fairly centralised spot and shouted "You're all in great danger." Not the most subtle approach, but it was an attention grabber.

"If I can have your attention _please!_" she yelled as a the crowd became restless after her initial warning. Public speaking had never been Haze's forte, her preferred medium had always been the on-line blog, plenty of time to put down your thoughts, correct and edit them. But now was the time for quick, decisive words, she reasoned it wouldn't be long before she was tackled by security.

"This resort was built on top of a massive insect colony, they're called the Grarnian Swarm and they've very dangerous. There are many different sub-species spawned from the same queen, but there are only two you need to be concerned about, controllers, which can tap into your nervous system and take over your body, that's what happened to Wri remember, you all saw that. And there are soldiers, do I even need to explain that one? No, good." Haze was pleased with herself, she seemed to be getting the hang of this public speaking, the crowd were hanging on her every word. She had been forced to fill in a few blanks herself, reasoning that the message itself was more important than any detail and gaps in her knowledge would only lead to doubt in her public's minds. But as she looked out she could see people pushing through to the front, resort security. _Time to wrap this up_ she thought, "Up and till now they've been in a state of hibernation, but they've been woken up. You need to get out of here, because if you don't they will enslave or kill everyone here!" her voice quickened as the guards approached, getting her final words out as she was manhandled away. She decided to leave her little speech there, shouting while you were being dragged away tended to make you look crazy.

As she was being led away Haze she caught snippets of conversation, the reaction of the other guests.

"Not safe...."

"....killer insects?"

"There _was_ something on Wri..."

"The children are here...."

"Same thing happened on Rayrek......."

"...... got to get out of here......."

Haze smiled, her work was almost done.

* * *

"Welcome Doctor." The words came in a single voice, speaking from somewhere in the darkness.

"I'm here, what do you want with me?" with nothing in particular to address the Doctor shouted back to the whole room.

"I want to see you Doctor, I want to look upon the one who killed so many of my children."

"You know me then?"

"You are in a different stage of your life cycle, but you are the same man I saw all those years ago. I sent my children across the stars, but we are linked, we are always linked, I see the universe through their eyes."

_Their hive conciousness, _thought the Doctor, _The ultimate hive mind, still connected, even over millions of light years._

"And you Doctor, you murdered them."

* * *

Third incarnation

The Doctor pulled his notebook from his pocket and consulted the tunnel map he'd made. The records and plans available were never going to be completely accurate but given the circumstances even a rough layout was better than nothing. The area was mostly a maze, but there was one chamber, he reasoned, which would be the perfect place to install a queen and establish a hive. Following his map the Doctor and the soldiers travelled deeper into the catacombs, but arriving at a junction they faced their first major setback. In one direction, the path they were taking, they were confronted by more of the Grarnian protein walls, behind them was a pile of rubble, a dead end. The other corridor stretched out taking them in opposite direction and away from their target. Contained within the walls were millions of larvae.

"Of course," muttered the Doctor, "This is still a young hive trying to establish a foothold on this planet. They haven't managed to spawn sufficient numbers yet."

"So they're operating on a skeleton crew, so to speak?" asked Jennings.

"It would appear that way, it would explain why we've encountered so little resistance, they simply haven't had the numbers to throw at us. Their entire compliment of soldiers was enough to scare us away at the farm, but then we probably killed half of them at the entrance."

"Good, so now it would appear now is the perfect time to strike. Which way do you propose we go now?"

The Doctor consulted his notes again, "With this corridor blocked then this is the most logical path," he traced the path with his finger, "And I believe the queen to be located here."

"Colonel, Doctor, look!" while they had been talking one of the soldiers, a man named Hawkins, had been examining the hive wall. As they stared into the wall a face stared back at them, a human face. Immediately the Doctor drew the knife and began to cut away the wall, "He's not breathing," he said solemnly as he pulled the body from the wall. Whoever it was the body was in a terrible state, withered and partially digested. Looking down he corridor the protein wall extended as far as they eye could see, and within the wall was body after body, potentially hundreds in that section alone, probably more in other sections of the hive.

"Food," the Doctor said, horrified, "The whole town, hundreds, potentially thousands of people brought down here for food."

"Is there any chance we could still find some alive elsewhere?"

"I doubt it, although I find this whole situation most odd. It makes no sense for them to have killed everyone and yet we haven't seen a single host wondering the hive, why? It's big enough for them, they would almost certainly be more efficient than the colony's own workers and could have been a very practical form of defence. Even if they were only brought down for feeding it, it would have made more sense to keep them alive, keep the meat fresh. It's almost as if they're just....."

_I was wrong_ he thought, for all his talk about underestimating your enemy he had made a similarly grave error, he had overestimated them. This wasn't some great intelligence he was dealing with, the interstellar spawning and parasitic control were nothing more than quirks of evolution. The ability to communicate hadn't been a sign of intelligence, it had only been the illusion of it, a few rudimentary skills absorbed from an unwitting host. This wasn't an invasion they were facing it was an infestation, albeit a very dangerous one.

"Just what Doctor?"

Slowly the Doctor got to his feet, "Just insects, no more intelligent than your average ant farm. Come on, there's nothing we can do for these people."

Backtracking is a slow and frustrating process, but necessary in order to find an alternate path into the heart of the colony. As they passed the main entrance they could see constructor already hard at work rebuilding the wall they had split to gain access. A few quick blasts from the pressurised insecticide and they dropped to the floor.

"Stay here and hold the door open for us," Jennings ordered to two of his men, "We'll need to make a quick getaway."

The Doctor and Jennings, followed by the two remaining soldieries pushed on, the precious ventilator in hand. With his map in hand and a renewed sense of vigour the Doctor guided them through the maze of tunnels. After some time he announced "We're here."

Jennings directed his men to take down the wall that separated the hive from the royal chamber, as the worked he turned to the Doctor and said, "We still have a problem, I'm have to stay behind to the ventilator off."

"No, once we're inside you and the men are going to run for the entrance. I'll give you a ten minute head start, and then flood the hive with your insecticide."

"This is my mission and the damage was done on my watch. You've been a great help Doctor, we wouldn't have made it this far without you, but it's time to leave."

"Don't talk such nonsense Colonel, beside I feel I'm in with a pretty good chance of getting out of here."

"But you don't understand, that stuff is highly corrosive, your gas mask won't protect you for long, there's no way you'll make it out in time."

"I'm quicker than I look."

"It's not you, there's no way any human could survive this."

"Well it's a good thing I'm not human isn't it."

"What did you say?"

The silence was broken by Hawkins announcing that they were through to the queen's chamber. Once again bright red Grarnian soldiers swarmed out and were met with the deadly spray of the pressurised insecticide.

The room had functioned as a storage vault, surrounded by the maze of catacombs, the prefect place to establish a hive. A line of insects trooped out of an alcove, each one carrying a single larvae, and within the alcove sat the queen. It was larger than the rest of the swarm, several feet long with a mesh of webs supporting her abdomen and a stack of eggs sat beneath it. Jennings signalled the men to move the ventilator into position.

"Look Colonel this isn't a debate, I'm better qualified to work that machine than you, do you have the slightest clue how to rewire the inside and set it off?"

"I have to admit I don't."

"There we are then."

Jennings reached out and shook the Doctor's hand, "Good luck Doctor, it's been an honour."

"Thank you, see you on the other side," he produced two items from his pocket, his map which he handed to the colonel and a stop watch, "I'll give you ten minutes to get out before I set off the ventilator, better start running."

He nodded and took off down the corridor at a quick jog, his men close behind him.

Once he was alone the Doctor began to dismantle the ventilator, rigging it to release it's deadly contents. He looked up as a movement caught his eye, the queen was freeing herself from the webs that supported her, desperately trying to escape.

"You can't get away you know," the Doctor commented idly, more for his own benefit, "As soon as I set this off you're all done for."

"We are but one hive Doctor, the Grarnian Swarm covers many worlds."

The Doctor jumped, startled by the words, "So you do understand me then, I was beginning to wonder about your intelligence."

"We assimilated your language skills from the towns people."

"Spoken like a true parasite. Clever though, very advanced parasitism, the accumulation of knowledge through a hive mind, especially since you just sit here while the drones do all the work. But why kill them though? Surly they can be of more use to you than just food, after all is the parasite that kills its host really that successful?" After a brief pause the Doctor continued, "No answer, didn't think so. Because all you have are facts and no idea how to use them you, lack the wisdom....." he glanced down at his watch, the ten minutes were almost up, "And that is why I have no qualms doing this!"

With that he twisted the nozzles and replaced the lid. A dull hissing noise filled the room as the ventilator released it's toxic gas. As the Doctor walked, briskly, out of the chamber he could hear the queen screaming in it's death throws. In the corridor constructors were already falling from the ceiling as the gas spread throughout the hive. The Doctor too was feeling the effects, his gas mask's mouth piece was beginning to rust and the rubber was becoming brittle. Taking one last deep breath he stripped the decaying remains of the mask from his face and discarded them. Jennings had been correct, no human could possibly have made it through the hive, but the Time Lord stood a chance and even he was beginning to weaken. He drew a silk handkerchief from his pocket, placed it over his nose and mouth and used to to draw a few shallow breaths. It wasn't much, but he hoped it was enough. Even though he was outrunning the worst of gas, the exposure was going to take it's toll. His head was starting to spin now while his world was descending into blackness. As he gave one final lurch forward he felt a pair of hands, not his own support him and a voice said "Got you."

* * *

Tenth incarnation

"Oh don't give me that rubbish," the Doctor snapped harshly to the darkness, "You have no concept of murder, pain, suffering or loss, they're just words you picked up, they don't mean anything to you."

It was a bold thing to say, the cave was crawling with life, any number of soldiers or workers could have eaten him alive. Unlike the catacombs this cave system was been home to a fully developed hive that had been growing there for centuries and so had carved and shaped to suit their needs. The voice had come from a darkened passageway, but around it were numerous alcoves, each one containing it's own queen.

"But we remember Doctor, and we remember what you did."

"You don't understand it though, not really. You try to condemn me, but you don't have any sense of right and wrong. You're not even sentient, not in the true sense, you're just insects that learned to speak via an evolutionary accident."

"We are the Grarnian Swarm, we are.....

"There you go again, I bet you didn't even come up with that yourself did you?"

"There was an entomologist, his planet was called Cazro _(A famous dead world _thought the Doctor)_,_ he studied us in great detail, we learned much about ourselves from him. He named us Grarnian, swarm was a word we learned from your world Doctor, it describes us well."

"Can't argue with that."

"You are wrong about us Doctor, we have learned much since our last encounter. What you say about us may have been true in the beginning, but we have the acquired knowledge from the worlds we have 'infested', as you would say. You Doctor, you intrigue us, no one else has been able to escape our soldiers, or destroy so many of us. We know that you were not like the others on Earth. You must know much Doctor, we have learned to appreciate the value of of wisdom and we want yours."

The Doctor felt the tickle of tiny legs, on the back of his neck, followed by a sharp prick.

* * *

Haze sat alone in an equipment shed, the first convenient place the security team had found to stash her. Security was more a formality, providing peace of mind more than anything else, and so the resort wasn't equipped with any kind of detention facility. The guards had rattled off the usual threats, lifetime ban from the resort naturally, but criminal charges and lawsuits were mentioned as well. Which was a shame as she had barely had a chance to enjoy everything they had to offer. After a few minutes of sitting waiting she heard a low rumbling outside. Running to the window she could see the first of the ships take off from the hanger. She smiled, he attempt to spread fear and paranoia among the guests had been a great success. _Scaremongering is so easy_, she thought to herself, _Maybe I should have started along time ago_, but she shook the thoughts from her mind. Her goal had always been the truth, it was just that on this occasion the truth happened to be the threat of a very nasty death.

A key turned in the lock and the shed door swung open. Standing there was was a well dressed businessman looking extremely worried.

"Is it true what you were saying, about the insect colony?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure, is there any chance that you were mistaken?"

"None whatsoever, my friend is something of an expert when it comes to these things. He's been all over the universe and he's seen things you wouldn't even believe. He encountered the Grarnian Swarm years ago on a planet called Earth. Then the colony came from space, but he thinks they were here all along."

With that the man went very pale, "Oh no, this is all my fault."

"Come on now," said Haze sympathetically, "How can it be your fault?"

"I'm the chairman of the Yagar Relaxation Company, we own this planet and built the resort."

"Yeah, that would do it...." she muttered, "I mean, go on."

"When we bought this planet it was an untouched paradise, it seemed too good to be true. But we were under pressure to get the resort open as soon as possible, there were supposed to be surveys done, but we cut a few corners...." his voice trailed off.

"We can assign blame later, but for now you have a chance to redeem yourself. If you're the chairman then that means you outrank Voyle. If you really do believe me then you need to order an evacuation."

The chairman nodded, "OK, I can do that. Lets go."

* * *

The Doctor stood frozen to the spot as the Grarnian controller's nervous system interfaced with his own.

"Before we have only collected," the voice was now within the Doctor's head, his mind was connected to the Grarnian hive conciousness, "But now, with your mind we can be so much more, we can control the entire galaxy. You know the weaknesses of a thousand worlds, and you can calculate a thousand more. The ships on the world above can be used to spread our children more efficiently than ever. We only need few bodies for that, the rest can be purged."

Through his connection with the Swarm, the Doctor could feel millions of insects heading for the surface.

* * *

As Haze and the chairman ran across the resort the ground began to vibrate. She looked down, alarmed as a mound of soil began to push itself up.

"Change of plan," she yelled, continuing to run for the executive hut, "Evacuations off, where's the safest place for people to take refuge."

"Hospital," the chairman replied breathlessly, "We can activate the quarantine protocols, nothing gets in or out."

"Sounds like a plan."

Haze glanced back, crimson soldier bugs were pouring out of the mound. She quickened her pace and burst into the executive office.

"What is the meaning...." Voyle began before he was quickly cut off by Haze.

"No time, the threat's real, we need to use your PA system." and as Voyle was bout to object again she added, "This is your boss, he's on my side and he's seen the Swarm so don't bother to argue with us. Now, you're PA system please."

Reluctantly the director handed over the microphone. Haze's voice blared out across the resort, "Attention everyone, you all need to get inside now, go for the hospital if you can make it, if not get in doors and fortify your building. I repeat get inside now! The resort is under attack from the Grarnian Swarm, you know the ones I warned you about earlier. Of course we wouldn't be in this situation if everyone had just listened the first time....." and with that the microphone was snatched off her, "I made my point." she muttered under her breath.

Voyle was on the PA system, trying to calm people down, but effectively repeating Haze's instruction. Outside it was chaos. People were running around in a blind panic as more and more insects emerged from the ground. Many had made it to the hospital, but others had been less fortunate. With the swarm approaching those inside had the forethought to trigger the quarantine, protecting themselves, but dooming those outside the walls. Some were seen to fall into the sea of insects, never to be seen again. Others tried to swat away areal assaults, but soon went still and docile as the insects took control of their body.

All Haze could do was watch as she fortified the executive hut.

* * *

Through the eyes of the Swarm the Doctor watched the whole thing.

"See how they run in fear, Doctor. This world will fall quickly. But there is one human up there that you care deeply about, shall we enslave her? No, I think we shall simply destroy her."

The Doctor said nothing, but could feel workers swarming towards the executive hut.

* * *

Haze grabbed onto the desk for support as the whole building shook, Voyle and the chairman had been less quick to respond and lay sprawled on the floor.

"Foundations!" she exclaimed, "They're trying to sink us!"

The whole hut lurched as one side slid into the ground. Huge cracks spread across the roof and walls and the building split in two. Now totally exposed the three frightened inhabitants, huddled against the back wall as hundreds of Grarnian soldiers entered the building.

* * *

"Look at the pathetic humans cowering before us. They are weak, and we shall destroy them so easily, we shall devour them!"

Then for the first time the Doctor thought a word, a single word from his head resonated through the entire Grarnian conciousness.

"No."

* * *

Searching frantically Haze looked for anything that could function as a weapon and found herself forced to choose between a fly swatter and a letter opener. Grabbing the blade she faced her attackers, she couldn't stop them all, but she could take a few out before they killed her. But as the adrenaline was pumping, as she prepared to attack all she could see was row upon row of insects stood motionless on the floor of the hut. Her fighting instinct was replaced with her more natural curious one as she contemplated the significance of this new development. Then without warning all of the Swarm turned round and left. Haze ran outside to see thousands upon thousands of insects returning to to the underground hive from where the came. She smiled, "Doctor."

* * *

"What? What are you doing?" the voice of the Grarnian conciousness raged inside the Doctor's head.

"I'm taking control," came the response, "I told you, you're thick. There's no intelligence in here, it's just instincts and stolen memories, if there was then you certainly wouldn't have brought a more powerful brain into the hive mind now would you?"

He could feel panic and a signal to get the controller on his neck to disengage, to kill him.

"No, don't do that, you'll only embarrass yourself. Jimbo's staying right here."

"You may be able to control my children Doctor, but you can't control me, and I will _destroy_ you."

The darkness stirred and a great shape loomed forward, the Grarnian queen was moving. The queen was huge, many times the size of the one the Doctor had faced before. Two foot long antennae swept the air while large, glistening red eyes locked the Doctor into their gaze. Six pairs of long legs, sprouting nasty looking spines, supported its jet black body, and dragging behind it was a swollen abdomen. At the front of the beast the large gnashing pincers, snapped at the Doctor's waist, and a small, vicious sat mouth behind them.

The Doctor leapt back to avoid the clumsy attempt to bifurcate him. He quickly dashed around the creature, frantically searching for cover. He dropped, hit the ground and rolled into a nook on the cave floor.

"You cannot hide from me forever Doctor, not in my domain." taunted the voice in his head, as the Grarnian queen turned it's cumbersome body to where he was hiding.

"I don't need to, I only need a few minutes. Oh wait, here they come."

A buzzing sound echoed around the cavern as the entire swarm poured back into the hive.

Then there was screaming, pained, tortured screaming. To the casual observer the cave would have been fairly quiet, aside from the insect noises, but inside the Doctor's head it was the most agonising sound in the universe. The Grarnian queen was covered in soldiers and workers, each one digging in and tearing her apart.

The Doctor was part of the hive, he had control but he also shared the pain, and as the queen weakened so did he. The mass of red, brown and black that was the swarm destroying its own queen became unfocused as he lapsed into unconsciousness.

* * *

"Pull it off."

"No, don't pull it off, you don't know what that will do."

"But we have to do something!"

"Look!"

The Doctor's eyes fluttered and then snapped open. He was lying on the hard ground with Haze and Wri standing over him, the floor of the cave was littered with the thousands of lifeless bodies that used to be the Grarnian Swarm.

"Oh, hello you two," he muttered as he climbed to his feet, "Everything sorted then?"

"Pretty much. A fair few people had the good sense to listen to me and leave before everything really kicked off and most of those who didn't were able to barricade themselves up quickly enough to survive the attack. There were a few who didn't make it though......" Haze let the words hang in the air for the moment, "I ran into the guy who owns this planet as well, I think him and Voyle are going to be in a world of trouble once word of this gets out. Well deserved too if you ask me, they cut all sorts of corners founding this place, this could all have been avoided."

"Well I can't imagine this will be the most relaxing place in the universe any more, so what's say we move on?"

"Isn't there, going to be an inquiry though, won't we need to be there to answer questions?"

"Wri can take care of that."

"But what shall I tell them Doctor?" Wri asked, "When they ask what happened down here?"

"Just say that I stopped them, that's all they need to know."

Wri opened his mouth to ask more, but Haze stopped him, she knew when to not to push an issue.

* * *

Third incarnation

"How the devil do you do it man? You must have been in there breathing that stuff far longer than I was and look at you, up and about already."

The Doctor and Jo were visiting Jennings in a military hospital. Both men had been rushed for decontamination and treatment for toxic exposure as the staggered out of the church. But while the Doctor had made a full recovery in no time Jennings was still bed ridden over a week after the incident.

"It's as you said Colonel," said the Doctor with a smile, "No human could have survived it." To which all Jennings could muster was a bewildered look.

"I do hope you get better soon Colonel." Jo added, placing a bouquet of flowers by his bedside.

"Thank you Miss Grant. Keep an eye on him will you, I'll find out his secret one day."

Jo smiled, "Of course I will."

"Well I think we best be off," the Doctor said finally, "I think the Brigadier wants to see us, one or two last loose ends with this whole business. Good bye old chap."

* * *

Hours later they were sat in Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's office.

"Some slightly odd news," he began, "I've just received reports of a man claiming to have discovered a new insect species in a forest in Kent. Based on the photos we've seen I can confirm they were members of the Grarnian Swarm, the soldier ones, we assume they were some kind of scouting group, they were found over fifty miles from Camford. Funny thing was they were dead when this man found them, most had been eaten by birds and such but he was able to bring back a few specimens. They've been studied by experts, none of them can figure out why they died, no trace of toxins in the system bodily damage or anything like that."

"Fascinating," said the Doctor, "It's all to do with the hive conciousness, the queen seemed to maintain control over the colony and pick up whatever they learned, they were like cells in a body rather than individuals."

"So you mean that when the queen dies the whole colony dies along with her?" asked Jo.

"Yes exactly Jo."

"How horrid."

"Certainly, but this information does come in very handy, wherever they came from the Grarnian Swarm is still out there somewhere, and this could be the perfect way to fight them."

* * *

Tenth incarnation

Silence filled the TARDIS as the Doctor piloted them away from Sumpara. After pacing round the console several time Haze decided to speak up.

"Are you alright? she asked.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well for one thing you're deflecting, but I think what happened in the hive is really bothering you, what I don't know is why. You've dealt with these things before, you've seen them kill and you've killed them. What makes today so different?"

The Doctor said nothing, part of him simply didn't want to discuss the issue, but part was curious to see how far she'd get on her own.

"The controller!" she said suddenly, "On you're neck when we found you, you had a controller bug, you're mind was connected to the hive. You felt it didn't you, you felt them die?"

"Billions and billions of deaths, and I was connected to the mind of each one, when they died it was as if they were a part of me. It wasn't just here, the Grarnian Swarm had spread out across the galaxy with colonies on hundreds of worlds. The one I killed she was the alpha queen, the queen of queens, and when she died......"

Haze stood there stunned as the Doctor trailed off, unable to even contemplate what he was feeling.

"I committed genocide today, and I felt the death of every single one."

"But think about how many you saved. You said it yourself, all they do is enslave and kill, think of all the billions who will never need to encounter them thanks to you, think of all the hundreds you saved at the resort and think of me, I'd certainly be dead if you hadn't done what you did," she paused for a moment to let her words sink in, and to her relief the Doctor smiled a genuine warm smile, and so she continued, "I can't imagine how much it must hurt, but you need to remember why it had to be done."

The Doctor put his arm around her shoulder and squeezed reassuringly, "I know. That's why I need you Haze, I need someone to remind me."

End


End file.
